Richard 'Dick' Cobia

On Christmas day 2007, Richard Cobia left behind his old, well-used, well-traveled body. He came here 98 years ago, two days before Thanksgiving, Nov. 23, 1909, on a farm in South Carolina. His mother, Mary Florence (Shorter) Cobia died five days later. A year and two months later his father, Benjamin Cobia died. They left their eleven children one lasting legacy, that of faith and membership in the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. Richard's older brothers and sisters kept a promise made to their dying mother when she pleaded, "Keep the family together." No matter where they went or the circumstances in their lives they were always close and helped each other through out their lives.

During the 1920s the Cobia children started moving west. In 1925 Richard came with a sister, two brothers and a brother-in-law to Utah. At the age of sixteen he chose to become independent. He moved to Montana where a stranger, Ralph Pepper and his wife took him in, welcomed him into their home, gave him a job and helped him finish high school. He next moved onto Alberta, Canada, where he met and married Rhoda Woodruff. They were the proud parents of seven children. Richard farmed to provide for his family. During World War II he was one of hundreds who pushed the Alaskan Highway through forests and acres of tundra in all kinds of weather.

The family moved from Hartley Ville, Alberta, to Moses Lake in 1946. Dick farmed, milked cows, raised and transported water melons and eventually became Supervisor of the Weed District in the area.

Dick helped build two LDS chapels one in Canada and one in Moses Lake. In Canada he was chairman of the committee that raised enough money to pay for the building and he was also part of the crew that cut down the trees and sawed the logs used in the building.

After he retired, Dick and Rhoda toured the United States to see the sights, but Dick also went from place to place visiting relatives and old friends and making new friends along the way.

Dick moved to Costa Rica in 1980 where he loved swimming in the ocean, sitting on the beach under a tree and making new friends. A few years later he moved to California and married Ruth Wilkinson who enriched his life with her love for fifteen years. They traveled across the globe to Africa and Brazil, to New Zealand, Australia and Tahiti, to the British Isles, and cruised down the Mississippi River on the "Mississippi Queen."

For the past six years Richard has mostly lived in Orem, Utah. As eye sight dimmed, hearing diminished, short-term memory departed and death seemed so slow in coming, he never lost his sense of humor and often told people he had lived from the "Buffalo chip to the Computer chip" era. When his foot was broken by a falling object he explained, "I went on an African safari and an elephant stepped on my foot." He was always interested in reading about history, politics and biographies and said, "I've lived a thousand lives."

Richard is survived by his seven children and their spouses: David and Patricia Cobia, Lorna and Bert Pack, LeRoy and Janice Cobia, LeRon and Hildred Cobia, Judi and Phil Vernon, Jim and Marilyn Cobia, Patti and Greg Hughes; 29 grandchildren and numerous great-grandchildren. He is proceeded in death by his wife, Rhoda W. Cobia, and all of his brothers and sisters, Benjamin, Verda, Mary Ada, Hattie, Georgia, Clorece, Joel, Lila "Mertie," James "Jim" and Lyda.

Funeral Services will be held Saturday, Jan. 5, at 11 a.m., at the Berg Mortuary of Orem, 500 N. State St. A viewing will be held that morning, at the mortuary, from 9:30 a.m. until time of service. Interment, Timpanogos Memorial Gardens Cemetery, 1000 N. 400 E., Orem. Condolences may be sent to info@bergmortuary.com.